Major international organizations classify countries by different factors. One criterion that is often used is gross national income (GNI) per capita – the dollar value of a country’s final income in a year, divided by its population

Jalak Jobanputra, founding partner of Future\Perfect Ventures, an early-stage venture-capital fund, visited Global Finance to discuss the state of fintech, the future of blockchain and digital currencies, and how corporations can extract more value from such technology.

Louis Pastina, who leads technology at consultancy Global Markets Advisory Group and previously served in technology and regulatory leadership roles at the New York Stock Exchange and the National Stock Exchange (GMAG), visited Global Finance to discuss dramatic changes in financial technology.

The cryptocurrency Bitcoin was the first working example of a blockchain, or distributed ledger, but important as it has become, it barely begins to explain why banks, regulators (including central banks) and tech firms are all over this technology.